Saturday, March 25, 2006

We must say, life was a lot less...hectic when we were talking about scantily clad co-eds and bashing our Big 10 brethren in Columbus.

Just want to say thanks for all the support, even from traditional rivals. We've said it before but we'll say it again (and keep saying it), it's much appreciated.

As we said in the post that started this little firestorm, each of our contributors does this site for free. There is no advertising and we've been too damn lazy to open a CafePress account to try to sell anything. It's just a hobby and passion in order for us to talk, bitch and have a few laughs about some of our favorite topics (like the above-mentioned scantily clad co-eds). Thus, the fun of doing it comes from your emails and comments (yes, we're easily amused).

As such, unlike Mr. CowherdItSomewhereElseFirst in his reply to one of our readers, we appreciate the blogging and sports board community. Without it, we might as well just go back to emailing each other. If you notice, unlike a lot of sites that are "pro" a certain team, unless it's particularly vulgar or offensive (or that one LSUoverSC dude putting up the same link over and over again), we leave comments up - those that like the site and those that don't. That's the beauty of it.

Some have commented that this is a "great" thing for us due to the increase in traffic. But whether we have a million visitors in a day or just Wangs's mom, the pay is the same. While it's nice to have all the new readers, we'd prefer they were reading our material (and voting in the our Blog Co-ed Showdown). Besides, keeping up with all this new traffic makes for a bitch of a time pulling off the charade that is each of our real jobs.

Also, some of you have said we should sue or get him fired or worse, make him move to Columbus (sorry, old habits). But this isn't and never was about money or a man's job. Put simply, it was just about wanting credit where credit was due. Had Mr. CowherdItSomewhereElseFirst said, "Sorry, my bad" - or anything close - that would have been the end of it. Instead, he had to be even "douchebaggier" in his response. I guess that's the most disappointing part.

Most of all, we realize this isn't important in the grand scheme of things. If you read the site regularly, you know we don't take ourselves too seriously. And next week I'm sure we'll be back to the usual stuff. But this whole thing just sort of sucked on our end.

In any event, just our long winded way of saying thanks for the support. It's appreciated.

33 comments:

Anonymous
said...

ESPN did not give you the credit that you earned when they used the article you wrote just as ESPN did not give LSU the credit it deserved when it won the National Championship under the rules all teams agreed to and then gave not just some of, but most of, the credit to another team.

Did I miss something? Back in 2003 I was sure that I heard on ESPN, on every other sports show I watched or listened to, and in every newspaper or magazine I read, that LSU won the BCS Championship game and thus were awarded the USA Today/ Coaches poll national championship, including the crystal football trophy that goes along with it.

Sure sounds like LSU got credit for what they earned.

I also heard that USC won the final AP poll and were thus awarded the AP national championship in that year. USC likewise got credit for what they earned.

Now, since LSU was given full credit by everyone for what they earned, the USA Today Coaches Poll National Championship; and USC was given full credit for what they earned, the AP Poll National Championship, I see absolutely no parallel betwen these two events and and the ESPN/M-zone issue, where the M-Zone did NOT get the credit they earned or deserved.

The BCS is an independent group, apart from the Coaches Poll. It would exist with and without the Coaches' Poll association with it. Its legitimacy derives from the fact that all the major conferences agreed to its contract.

The BCS, not the Coaches Poll or the AP Poll, is the purveyor of national championships ever since the major conferences agreed to the BCS' stipulations.

As you seem so familiar with what the BCS contract says why don't you post it here so we can all review it rather than just hear your interpretations of it?

I know I am especially interested in both the clause that makes the BCS the official "purveyor of national championships.." and the clause where the conferences agree to prevent the Coaches and AP Polls from continuing to award National Championships.

Onepete loser go home and finish your whittlin'. You don't see anyone on this blog whining about the 97 split with my huskers do you? Fact of the matter is only a few OCD sufferers from LSU seem to give a rats ass about 2003. Funny but weren't you going to use the sears tropy image on your pathetic billboard until you realized that the image was copyright material? This is about getting credit for copyrighted material and even you half wits should understand that, after all your ugly ass billboard should is a not so sparkling monument to what happens when copyrights are infringed upon (almost).

Onepete loser go home and finish your whittlin'. You don't see anyone on this blog whining about the 97 split with my huskers do you? Fact of the matter is only a few OCD sufferers from LSU seem to give a rats ass about 2003. Funny but weren't you going to use the sears tropy image on your pathetic billboard until you realized that the image was copyright material? This is about getting credit for copyrighted material and even you half wits should understand that, after all your ugly ass billboard is a not so sparkling monument to what happens when copyrights are infringed upon (almost).Sorry about the grammar error on the original post but I just had my third bloody mary.

Legitimacy of the true National Championship now comes from the member schools agreeing to a system. It no longer rests in the ballots of a few coaches and media members, many who are not competent or caring enough to submit accurate ballots. That is, after all, why the member conferences agreed to the BCS.

Huskersota - thank you for reminding us of that retirement present Phil Fulmer gave The Honorable Dr. Tom Osborne just because he was still upset about his girl Peyton losing the Heisman to our man Charles. It was Phil's #4 vote in that illigimate coaches poll that the LSoosers seem to think means something that cost us the coaches poll. And shouldn't that really be renamed, the assistant athletic director's poll since they usually do the voting because their school's coach is too busy on Saturday afternoons to really observe and analyze other teams to have any clue how to rank them.

The real point is - polls by writers and assistant athletic directors / interns are useless. College football needs a playoff so we can settle this on the field.

The fact is, CFB does have a playoff already, even if it is a one game playoff.

The BCS was constituted because athletic directors were sick of both the Coaches and the AP determining the national champion(s). So they came up with a system that would use those traditional, yet flawed, systems and add to them a more objective component.

Look at the precious AP Poll. You do know that in 2003, one AP voter voted Michigan #2 and LSU #3 in the final poll. Nonsense like that, and a coach voting 97 Michigan #4 (rather than #2, which is what they deserved) is the precise reason the BCS is here.

The winner of the National Championship Game is the Champion. Winning the Coaches or AP polls now is nice, but really means nothing.

Wangs, The 'honorable' TO crack I'm sure is in reference to the LP incident. I wish the man never wore a husker uni but I can't do anything to change that. Fact is a lot of folks believe LP had a huge impact on the outcome of the Tenn. vs. Nebraska game in 97. Those people should be reminded of LP's backup, one Ahman Green, not a bad back in his own right. As far as Phat Phil goes I think he was more pissed about his team getting punked than he was about a Heisman when he cast his vote. I would bet that if Michigan truly took care of business against cryin ryan nobody would have denied the blue their due. Phat Phil will have his day one way or another. I would bet it happens by either choking on a ham sandwich or by the NCAA hammering him for the backdoor recruiting tactics that Tennessee and its alums are famous for. By the way whatever happened to Kelly Baraka? I know we wanted him bad and he just seemed to vanish.

I would love to see a playoff system as well but I'm not holding my breath.

I found your site through a link on a USC board. I think its great. Cowherd is a thief. I have noticed that Sports Talk hosts hate message boards, my theory is that they view them as competition, because both are competing for the same group of people. You guys should email the issue to his competitors on Sporting News etc -- maybe they will mock him.

I must say, it is quite entertaining for LSU fans to continue to show the rest of the world how many morons are from that area.

To clarify some things about who agreed to what, being that no one has ever seen the BCS contract, LSU fans are sure good at making stuff up. It has never been reported that the AP agreed to anything, and it has never been reported that individual schools agreed to anything. What has been proven is that the BCS itself acnknowledges the split title, and being that all schools of the 6 power conferences belong to the BCS, seems to me that all schools acknowledge the split title, except for a few fringe LSU fans.

I do have to wonder how no matter what you boys on the MZone are talking about, it comes back to LSU and USC. Very odd.

Until there's a playoff, there's a chance this stuff can happen; most of us a mature enough to understand that. I'd rather have an "even Steven" in place than to have to listen to one school consistently whine that they were robbed for the next three-plus years. Oooh, wait, never mind...

As for the plagiarism, good to see the Worldwide Leader incorporates such strict standards. Even our local sports radio guys know enough to credit where they saw the funny article or poll, or say, faux Wunderlich test.

Isn't Dr. Tom Osborne a Member of Congress? I think that means as an elected official he is properly addressed as "The Honorable." I was trying to respect him and you thought otherwise. So sorry.

Becky - please please please do not associate those LSoosers with this blog! While I respect their focus, what they care about does seem meaningless, irrelevant, and pathetic. I actually think less of LSoooser now than before I ever heard of this 2003 "controversy" about the "coaches/assistant ad/intern" poll that they think is so important.

I am writing to express my concern over the unattributed use of material by ESPN Radio's Colin Cowheard during his "Real Wonderlic Test" segment. The material clearly came from michiganzone.blogspot.com and was unattributed.

While this was likely a mistake, the right thing to do would have been to admit the mistake and give fair credit. By refusing to do so and by referring to the website as merely "whiners," his show discredits the integrity of ESPN as a legitimate source of sports news. Just because Mr. Cowheard is involved in sports talk and just because M Zone is a blog does not mean that the rules of attribution somehow do not apply.

All the website is seeking is fair credit, even when they have a legitimate copyright infringement claim. I strongly suggest you take action.

I want to know what is the first email you sent him. Did you say, "Hey man we heard you segment, we just wanted to let you know we created it. We would appericate it if you could give us some credit. I mean we write stuff like this all the time. We do it for no money and help the poor, just to let you know. Maybe we can help each other we wash your back, you wash ours. But not to rough we senseitive."

Or was it, "Damn you POS. How dare you take something you did not do. You better give us the credit, before we go wolverine on you. Don't you know we help the poor. You wanna play rough we can although we are senseitive."

Sorry wangs whenever I get even the most remote sense that someone is bringing up the LP incident it just sets me off. Probably has to do with the fact that it's brought up 1000 times a year. I used to think TO was as pure as the driven snow but now the man is going to run for govenor. I have to wonder if feeding his ego isn't at the top of his agenda and not the higher calling that he and most of his supporters want people to believe. Maybe said ego is why he thought he could re-institute LP and get away with it and not be called to task. I mean who dares question the great TO. I still appreciate his record and what he means to the state but I don't think the man is a god.

Anyways love your blog and hope you guys get the props you deserve.

PS maybe tOSU, LSU and Colorado could start their own conference. It would be like participating in a soccer melee without actually having to watch soccer.

"The BCS is an independent group, apart from the Coaches Poll." "It no longer rests in the ballots of a few coaches and media members, many who are not competent or caring enough to submit accurate ballots."

Wrong and wrong. How do those two teams make it to the BCS game? I thought polls played a pretty heavy role in the process. I guess that I was wrong - along with everyone else that pays even the slightest bit of attention to college football. Thanks for setting us all straight.

And Cowherd is just a Michigan hater. There was no way he was going to credit any blog affiliated with the school. I even heard him rip Tom Harmon for being a "bust" in the NFL. Ignore the fact that there was this little thing called WWII when Harmon graduated and that he decided to go be a fighter pilot instead of play football. Yeah that makes sense, ignore the fact that he's hero with more balls than Cowherd will ever have and focus on the fact that after having to bail out of two planes during WWII, Harmon's body wasn't quite what it was when he played college ball. Good job Colin.

God I fucking hate that douchey little bastard. He didn't last long in the Detroit market, let's all hope he won't be much longer in any market.

ESPN & Cowherd are resposible for acknowleding the M blog. It is shameful & deceitful not to.I like UM always root for them except for one game. No not that outlaw program in columbus, O. but as a subway-alum for U of Notre Dame. I always read your column via EDSBS. Keep up the funny & illuminating reporting. Go Blue. I mean IRISH

I think you're going about drawing attention for it all wrong(by attention, I mean from ESPN to get the credit you deserve). You should start harassing OTHER ESPN radio shows since Cowherd is such an ass. If everyone sent stuff about Cowherd to Dan Patrick, Mike and Mike, and whoever else has shows and kept sending them, then, even if those guys didn't mention it on air, you gotta think they'd mention it to Cowherd. Trying to embarass him in front of his peers is probably the best way to get to him. I've listened to him some and he seems like the sort of guy who might say, "If you don't like me, then don't listen." He's such an idiot that he wouldn't realize that if people don't listen then he loses his job. So, I say mass email the OTHER espn radio shows and bring it to their attention instead. If they get bugged enough, then they're bound to say something to him or it will at least make him unpopular(although I doubt a lot of people are rushing to hang out with him as it is).

I think "Steve" or whoever he is needs help. He is so obsessed with denying the AP that he has lost all touch with reality. Yes, Steve, you distort and fudge the facts. Once again, you're called out: What do the conferences, athletic directors and the BCS have to say? I know you would never think of following through. That's just the point. If you pick the fight it's up to you to come up with the evidence. Your claims have all been refuted and going to the source would be the nail in your termite-riddled coffin.

For my intelligent pals from LSU, John David Booty has been suffering from back spasms and they are not sure what to make of it at this time. He had an epidural and they have even suggested surgery (oh no....). He's a good kid and doesn't deserve this. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Ted K. Aren't you the uni-bomber. "under the Golden Dome"written by two clowns from SI. Yeah I remember it, a frosh superstar no classes, big suv, star qb,$500 from a booster ,star TE. assualt on a non atletic student. Yeah I remember that seems like yesterday.

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The MZone-slash-MichiganZone.net-slash-MichiganZone.blogspot.com is in no way affiliated with the University of Michigan and/or U-M football in any way. If you thought it was, frankly I'm surprised you know how to use a computer.